Frequency of visits of in-lawsNot a full answer, but you two need to work on your marriage. She doesn't respect your concerns, and deliberately and repeatedly makes you uncomfortable. Co-owning the house does't give her the power to trample you like that; what a poor argument. She could meet him at his place instead, or elsewhere.

How can I teach my 5yo son to respect authority?@the_lotus you'll have the sweetest kids on the block and be the envy of the entire kindergarten group :-) Look at it this way: the difficult kids are already taken! Besides, my rep count (has it been 3½ years already?) mostly shows how my contributions were received, not how well I execute them myself. Walking the talk is hard.

Sep17

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How can I teach my 5yo son to respect authority?Dictatorship: Forgive me my wording. As I also mentioned, we strive to use reason and explanations but it often ends with some sort of definite ending from our side. If he won't accept our reasoning, he's going to have to accept that, sorry bub, that's just how it's going to be, because we're the parents, know better, and we say so in your best interest. The end. Believe me, we've tried all kinds of patience but eventually you reach a point where it all ends -- patience, arguments, reason. Thanks for your alternate perspective. I'm not convinced of ODD either, but I'm evaluating the option.

How can I teach my 5yo son to respect authority?My wife is very good at loudly counting "1... 2..." (based on earlier posts here, and other received parenting advice) and we have never reached 3 yet. But it seems impossible to be absolutely consistent with this, and having to do this all the time is wearing us out. We've done this since age 2 and it is mostly effective in the specific situation but there has been zero improvement in the long term. This is disheartening, especially when seeing the contrast to his sweet younger brother.

Sep17

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How can I teach my 5yo son to respect authority?Time-outing: our typical problem is that we can't enforce the time-out, at least not consistently. He won't stay in the assigned spot, he won't sit still or be quiet, he plainly won't obey. While I'm at work, my wife has limited means of enforcement because she can't leave the toddler unattended. While I'm home, the only consistently effective means of discipline is when I bodily carry him to his room and sit myself down in front of his door (on his side); this will calm him within 3-5 minutes every time but is not an option for my wife.

Sep17

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How can I teach my 5yo son to respect authority?Adressing your questions: "siblings" - one well-balanced younger brother, aged 2, whom he generally terrorizes. "kids with ODD drive their parents crazy" and "ADHD" - I've been feeling that from the start. "a biological component" - there is one person in the family that only got his act together at around age 30.